Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Of course, but nobody's ever explained why the plaza decks need to be higher than the streets, which also cross the railroad tracks on structure.
The only thing I can think of is that the plaza decks need extra structural depth because they're supporting building loads.
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It's because this is the only site on a curve. They aren't going to build a forest of columns like the other buildings with a ton of cast in place of formwork of a ton of different dimensions.
If there was a building on top, they could at least transfer the loads within the interior of the building, but it's a plaza.
It's cheaper to run a ton of longspan beams. They can support a ton of load with simple construction at a low cost. Probably makes Metra happy from a maintenance standpoint. It's the easiest and cheapest. Only problem is all that structural depth adds some elevation above street level. But there's always an architectural solution.
I suppose it's not ideal. But it's Lake Street....